Bahrain plans $530m central market project

Manama, April 2, 2012

A new vision for a BD200 million ($530.4 million) state-of-the-art Manama Central Market in Bahrain will be revealed in June, said a top official.

Tashgeel for Commercial Buildings Management was awarded the contract in August to supervise the revamp project.

It was earlier given six to nine months to complete the market's vision and is responsible for determining the best way to handle investment, market the project, come up with the criteria for investors, help select the best bidders and supervise designs.

The project includes a new central market, which will be named the Capital Trade Centre, and business, residential, shopping and leisure spaces.

Four 28-storey office and shopping towers, car parking facilities, a five-star hotel, heritage village and a park are also part of the plans.

The scheme was first announced in January 2008, but was sidelined due to the global financial crisis and problems reaching agreement on the best way forward.

'We are not in a rush for the vision to be complete and that is why we have agreed to let Tashgeel draw it up for presentation in June rather than the minimum of six months,' said Manama Municipal Council vice-chairman Mohammed Mansoor.

'There are international financial problems and local political instability that are affecting Bahrain and it creates difficulty drawing up anything.”

'We can either assume that everything is perfect and resume with plans we had in 2008 or come up with something that can really be a beautiful image to the country and a major contributor to the economy.

'This can only happen when enough time is given and through time when things are stable in a clear situation,” he added.

He was speaking after a meeting to discuss the new vision for the market with Manama Municipality director-general Shaikh Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and council chairman Majeed Al Jazeeri. Present was council services and public utilities committee chairman Fadhel Al Qaidoom.

Mansoor said merchants and customers would have to be consulted when the vision is ready. 'People should have a say and the vision is not final and could be changed, but it should be merchants and customers that make choices on adding or deleting whatever they want.' – TradeArabia News Service